Austro-Libertarian Critique of Public Choice

Critical analysis of Public Choice from the Austrian perspective is timely and relevant to clarify important misconceptions about both schools of thought that although in some aspects are complementary in many others offer a significantly different and even opposite approach.

Description

Among all the various schools of economic thought, the ideas of the Public Choice School have a unique relationship with Austrian economics. Both embrace a rigorous application of methodological individualism, and many great scholars in both traditions have been influenced and inspired by the works of the other. These similarities, however do not change the very real differences that exist between the two schools.

In An Austro-Libertarian Critique of Public Choice, Thomas DiLorenzo and Walter Block brilliantly identify both the ways the two schools complement each other, as well as highlighting the various shortcomings that exist within the positivist Public Choice approach. The result is a book that is a must read for any scholar interested in either economic tradition.

"Dilorenzo and Block have rendered an invaluable service to scholars and students interested in Public Choice, Austrian Economics and Liberalism. Their critical analysis of Public Choice from the Austrian perspective is timely and relevant to clarify important misconceptions about both schools of thought that although in some aspects are complementary in many others offer a significantly different and even opposite approach. This is a most welcome book that was very necessary and fills an important vacuum in the literature." — Jesús Huerta de Soto

"I congratulate DiLorenzo and Block for writing this important and courageous book chastising Public Choice. Austro-Libertarianism and Public Choice are to some degree complements; both veer in the direction of support for private property, fee enterprise and capitalism, and against government involvement in the economy. But they are also substitutes, in that the former is a consistent underpinning of the free marketplace, where the latter is not." — Han-Hermann Hoppe